Your German word of the day is "#Kommandolochstab" - but you probably won't need to bookmark it, a new study came up with a pretty reasonable explanation for those #Paleolothic-#Mesolithic batons which, surprise, apparently are not simply #RitualObjects™:
For #FindsFriday a gorgeous object: the Mannetje van Willemstad (the little man from Willemstad, Netherlands) aka The Oldest #Smile in the world. The #Mesolithic figurine, dating about 5,400 BC, was carved in oak wood. Its purpose isn't clear: Ritual? A doll?
Height 12.5 cm. On display at RMO Leiden.
Rare, but even more exciting finds of more than 7,000-year-old #footprints and #fishing traps have been reported from the Severn Estuary, UK, thanks to stormy weather conditions in September and October 2023:
On December 12th, #SaveStonehengeWHS will be taking the #UKGovernment to court over the unlawfulness of the Stonehenge Tunnel Proposal, which will cause 'permanent and irreversible damage' to the #WorldHeritage site.
If this tunnel goes ahead, which is intended to 'solve traffic problems', #UNESCO would take away world heritage status from both #Stonehenge & #Avebury.
Additionally, a #Mesolithic site called #BlickMead (near Stonehenge) with ritual artifacts and evidence of #HumanCivilization dating back 11,000 years, will be destroyed.
The tunnel has been an ongoing issue for a number of years. In 2021, the folks who took the #UKGovernment to court won the case, but now the government is back for another round, saying that the tunnel must go ahead.
Alright, talk at #s375#EAA2023 about Final #Palaeolithic#mobility is done. ✅ Photo credits to Iwona Sobkowiak-Tabaka.
Now only an afternoon discussion session #s515 for @EAAPaM about #Decolonising Palaeolithic & #Mesolithic#Archaeology has to be organised. Very much looking forward to it with presenters and discussants from North America, Europe, India and Australia. 🌎🌍🌏
We are pleased to share the flyer of the 21 #Palaeolithic and #Mesolithic Community sessions at #EAA2023 in Belfast. We will share individual sessions over the next few days. General info, sessions per day and info on our Friday eve social (please let us know if you want to attend):
Guess who just found the teeniest Mesolithic microlith while litterpicking on a sunset walk? Me! Strange to be the first person for over 8,000 years to see this human manufactured tool.
Two tiny worked Mesolithic flints, probably used as barbs on spears. The smallest, which I found yesterday while litterpicking, is 11x6mm. Apart from me, you're the first people to see the one on the left for over 8,000 years.
Found three treasures while litterpicking, including another Mesolithic worked flint - 7 from the same area so far (2 x blades and 2 x points/barbs were notably close finds). This one is the same grey flint, and it's been worked as a core, but only about a third remains because it broke from intense heating. Archaeologists sometimes record these heated flints as "potboilers" but I'm not convinced that applies to this artifact. It seems to be part of a core with usable flint that was put beyond use either intentionally or in a natural wildfire. I was already beginning to wonder if a tool - spear/harpoon - was mislaid and I've been finding some of the pieces. Now I'm wondering if a campsite was lost or even a human life: landslip, wildfire, hunting accident? Impossible to know but I can't help speculating.
Archaeologists excavating in Linmere, Bedfordshire, UK, have discovered 25 monumental pits in what has become a nationally important prehistoric site. The site date from the Mesolithic Period (12,000-6,000 years ago), a time with few clues to suggest what life was like in Britain.
These #BoneAwls and other related "Analyses of #Mesolithic grave goods from upright seated individuals in Central #Germany" have been published by J. M. Grünberg et al. in a contribution to an edited volume on "Mesolithic #burials" in 2016:
And if you read some German (and because today's #WorldBookDay), a recent book by H. Meller and K. Michel has been published on "Das Rätsel der #Schamanin" by #Rowohlt (also telling this little #Mesolithic#dog anecdote):
Significant Mesolithic Site With Unusual Pits Discovered In Bedfordshire - Ancient Pages (www.ancientpages.com)
Archaeologists excavating in Linmere, Bedfordshire, UK, have discovered 25 monumental pits in what has become a nationally important prehistoric site. The site date from the Mesolithic Period (12,000-6,000 years ago), a time with few clues to suggest what life was like in Britain.